The Journey of Kalyan jewellers: From a single Jewellery store to a Public Listed company Mr T. S. Kalyanaraman Iyer, chairman and managing director of Kalyan Jewellers, once happened to be a textile retailer in a small town of Kerala. Today Kalyan Jewellers is a Giant with a revenue of 94.73 billion Indian rupees. He was not born into this palace of jewels and gems; he made his way up to the top with this one line strategy “ the Customer is King” and has passed the notion to his sons who happen to take the company to greater heights.
Mr. Iyer established his first store in 1993 with 4000 square feet of carpet area, almost 10 times compared to any jewellery store back then. The store was ginormous, but most importantly it was home to ready-made jewellery which was still a rare sight to see in the early ‘90s. The retailer went on to run the same store for 7 years and started expanding after that. By 2011, Kalyan was a household name in Kerala, yet Kalyanaraman feared to open one in Chennai. He knew he had to do exactly what he did back in Thrissur, a grand and majestic opening. In 2015 Kalyan jewellers opened the gates of their Chennai store in the southern metropolis, with an area of 40,000 square feet, 600 kilograms of gold with an average foot fall of 900 people visiting, it was considered a huge success. Not just the south, they also have a good network of stores in North India with Jewellery stores in Jaipur, Lucknow, Chandigarh etc. Their store in Jaipur is relatively new, but their name is well known; it gave them a great head start. However the history of Jewellers in Jaipur is very ancient, and some families have been in business since centuries, yet Kalyan jewellers have captured a significant market share already. Once the jewellery prince started expanding the business, there was no looking back. The firm went on to establish stores throughout India and across the border as well. Currently, it is a nexus of 107 stores outspread in 21 states and Union Territories with 30 showrooms in the Middle East. In the previous term of 2019-20 the company recorded the revenue as high as 10,100 crore Indian rupees, of this 78% of the income was generated from India and rest was benefited from overseas. Despite the pandemic and its repercussions, the market throughout has been hitting highs and lows every day with a hope of better than expected earnings and profit. Amidst the rush in the market, as estimated by the analysts, the market is going to remain sturdy, and Kalyan Jewellers would come out as the strongest ones.